Time of the Month
by thecolorofair
Summary: Deryn's having her time of the month, but how exactly does she deal with it in a ship full of men? The setting is Book One Leviathan, the crew on the way to Constantinople. NewkirkXDeryn. AlekXDeryn. Love triangle. WARNING: rated T for suggestive romance later on and details of, you know, the title of the story.
1. Chapter 1

Deryn was in the guts of the Leviathan, using the toilet with Alek and Newkirk waiting for him just outside the bathroom stall door. She was sitting on a toilet in a panic; face flushed a bright red with hands scrambling to fold the handkerchief to a rectangular shape. Her hands were slightly shaking, rushing to secure the handkerchief on her underwear.

I hope this stays, Deryn thought. Please don't move around on me.

Someone pounded loudly on the stall door. "Oi, Dylan, hurry up! You got diarrhea or something?" It was Newkirk. Prince Aleksander Ferdinand of Austria would never say something that repulsive. No doubt he was blushing at the statement at the moment.

Deryn inwardly groaned. The two boys absolutely insisted on racing to the dining room, to childishly see who had increased their stamina the most during their stay on the Leviathan. Although Alek was princely, he was still only fifteen, welcoming such a challenge.

"Barking spiders, Newkirk, let a man do his business in peace!" Deryn said in her best masculine voice, although she felt far from being masculine at all, considering her period had come the day before, again threatening to reveal her secret to the Leviathan crew. Not for the first time, Deryn pitied herself for having been born a girl. She had lied to everyone she cared about: the beasties, the Leviathan comrades, Captain Hobbes, the whole air force, Britain, Newkirk, and Alek.

Deryn's hands fumbled to pull her underwear up without moving the period cloth. This was definitely a scary situation. The only thing in the way of her secret and Alek and Newkirk was a thin, fabricated wooden bathroom stall door. Worst of all, it was the type of door that showed the feet of the occupant. Deryn had to be extra careful to make everything look normal and not drop anything.

"Dylan, I'm going to break the door down if you don't wipe your ass and come out." Deryn could see Newkirk's impatient footsteps in front of the door.

As Deryn carefully pulled up her boxers over her underwear, to her horror, Newkirk stuck his head in underneath to peek in. He had a mischievous smirk on his face, and Deryn almost cried from embarrassment.

"Ah, you're ready. Let's go," Newkirk sang, reaching his hand up to undo the lock of the small stall. "Almost got it…"

Deryn was in trepidation. What was bloody wrong with boys and privacy? She was standing in front of the toilet, wearing a plaid pair of boxers she wore just for show when she went to bed, with her middy uniform trousers around her ankles. From that angle, Newkirk might be able to see something else within her boxers, or to put it straight, something she lacked.

Quickly bending down to pull up her pants, she punched Newkirk on his head. He fell forward on the ground, and Deryn took the chance to zip up her pants. She gave a sigh of relief. Her secret was safe for another day. Now to take care of the disrespectful boy on the ground. She would pound him good once they were up on the topside, with secure period cloths on, of course.

Before Deryn could open the stall to leave, Newkirk's arm shot out and grabbed her trousers at the ankles.

"What the—what the hell are you doing, Newkirk?" Deryn was suddenly afraid he had seen something. Now Deryn did not dare to open the door. She did not want Alek to find out like this, in the most awkward ambience possible. The boys had thought she was doing number two the whole time. If Alek found out now, like this, he would not only think her a liar, but a gross, repulsive girl as well.

"Wait, hold on." Supporting himself with his arms, Newkirk crawled in and stood over Deryn. Deryn was a tall girl, but in the last six months, Newkirk had surpassed all in height, lanky with a bit of muscle expected of a middy. He stood directly in front of her, their bodies almost touching in the cramped space. Deryn was too ashamed and embarrassed by the situation that she dared not to look into his eyes.

"Say what you want," she whispered. "But please, don't tell anybody—" Deryn looked up at Newkirk's face and found a fresh scar across his left cheek, blood flowing freely from the deep gash.

"Is it bleeding badly?" Newkirk touched his face with his hand. He tsked. "You didn't have to hit me into the ground, you know. We all know you're the strongest out of the all of us." He reached across Deryn and grabbed a handful of tissues.

Deryn was frozen with both shock and relief. Newkirk did not seem to suspect anything, but his arm was right across her breasts as he grabbed the tissues. Deryn dared not breathe for fear of him noticing a bump where there should not have been.

As Newkirk pressed the tissues to his cheek, Deryn snapped out of her trance. "I-I'm really sorry. Here, let me."

Deryn took the tissues into her own hands and patted the flowing blood off of Newkirk's face. There wasn't too much, thank goodness. Her heart beat faster as she looked at Newkirk's face, for the first time noticing he had the classic good looks; straight brown hair, teddy bear brown eyes, lips that were neither thin nor plump. This close together in this space, she wondered if her friend could hear her free-willed heartbeat. When she looked into his eyes, she saw that he was smiling, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"It's no big deal, Dylan," he said. He took the hand that that was patting his face and held it for a moment. Deryn and Newkirk stood face to face, mere inches separating them, him holding her wrist still.

It's the hormones, Deryn thought to herself. Barking period making me think things I shouldn't. Deryn was aware of the cramped environment, the proximity of their bodies, and the closeness of their faces. Had Newkirk always been this handsome? He had certainly matured from when they first met, a wee child with blemished skin and awkward movements. Newkirk was now a tall, boy, muscles visible under his brown middy tee shirt, all traces of blemishes gone.

Deryn collected herself. She was not going to turn into a monkey luddite just because this was her first time this close with a male.

"Sorry, lad," she said in her masculine voice. "We'll stop by the infirmary on our way up." Deryn tried to sound more confident than she felt. Until she got a proper cloth for her period, she wasn't sure if the cloth she was currently using would stay put or worse, leak.

Alek pounded on the door. "Are you guys alright? What's taking you both so long?"

Newkirk opened the door and stepped outside. "That dummy punched me down and a stray nail on the floor cut my cheek."

Deryn stepped out with her back straight, putting on a confident smirk, willing her heart to stop pounding. Had she been that afraid that Newkirk would find out her secret that she was still nervous?

Alek stared at Deryn strangely, from her to Newkirk, who had moved to stand slightly behind Deryn, who hadn't noticed.

"Infirmary first, then," said Alek.

"It's no biggie. Let's go eat," said Newkirk. He turned to Deryn. "We'll go up first. If you haven't finished your business, don't let us bother you."

The boys turned to leave, Alek giving Deryn a questioning look as he turned his head. Then he winked, laughing and making Deryn's heart beat faster once again as he did constantly.

"Ah, diarrhea, is it?" Alek laughed. "I guess I'll meet you at the egg room tonight."

"Y-yeah, Barlow's been more persistent than usual," answered Deryn. "Later, then."

Deryn felt a cluster of emotions. She was looking forward to being alone in the egg room with Alek that night, even if it was sweaty and smelly. She groaned again. Barking period was making her unnecessarily feminine.

Then, she realized with horror, Newkirk had saved her from racing them all the way upstairs by taking Alek with him. Somehow, he knew she had something important to do alone. Right then, she knew. Newkirk knew. Deryn felt small and exposed, her arms rubbing her shoulders as if it could rid her of the dust of problems that were settling on her life. He knew.


	2. Chapter 2

**My first story! I'm doing my best because I enjoy writing this, and I'll definately improve as the story goes on! More romance coming up soon. Thanks for the support.**

**P.S. I like the idea of Newkirk and Deryn together. I like the unexpected coupling. Like I would rather have Korra be with Bolin or Tahno rather than Mako :P (I know, random, right?) Anyway, enough with the chatter, on with the story!**

* * *

Walking up the stairs to the dining room with Alek, Newkirk felt a bit guilty. Dylan…the very epitome of a boy, strong, tall, and agile, was a…

_No,_ Newkirk thought. _Dylan…why—how? A…girl?_

When he had peeked underneath the bathroom door, he had seen the view right up Dylan's boxers. At first, he had thought that Dylan's manhood was tiny. Newkirk had finally found a blemish on the immaculate midshipman Dylan Sharp. He had planned to tease him about it…but when Dylan bent down for his pants, there had been no bulge whatsoever where there should have been.

Newkirk felt his face grow hot, trying to make sense of the situation. A girl…feigning as a middy…the only girl on the ship except the female scientist...surely he was crazy. Newkirk shook his head, earning him a perplexed look from Alek, who was walking beside him.

To make sure, Newkirk had even reached across Dylan's chest to see if there was any…breasts, purposely laying his arm on her to grab some tissues for his face. There was no mistaking it; he had felt…soft bulges. That action made him extremely guilty. Was he taking advantage of the situation? His face grew even redder, and he felt an uncontrollable sense of longing for her, a the same time knowing subconsciously that his male hormones were working at the thought of a girl his age was on the Leviathan. After being around only men, save for Dr. Barlow, for half a year, the idea made him feel horrified and confused at the same time.

First of all, he realized he was glad Dylan was a girl. He was relieved that he wasn't a fellow that had noticed another fellow's curve of lips or heard the person's voice clearly among all the others in the dining room, like a ninny. He was relieved, glad Dylan was a girl. He was a healthy male.

Secondly, he knew Dylan would want him to keep her secret safe. Just then, another thought popped into his mind. How did she shower? Who was her roommate? Whoever he was, did he know? Was she careful not to get caught by anyone when she was getting dressed? How Dylan keep her chest flat? Newkirk had a terrifying thought. She got into so many brawls…what if a guy hurt her? Or touch her in the wrong spot? They would definitely be able to feel something and get suspicious.

"Gahhhh, damn this," Newkirk pressed the base of his hands on his eyes in frustration. He would have to tell Dylan he knew her secret, and that it would be safe with him. Newkirk felt the fluttering of his heart and felt a tingling in his gut when he pictured Dylan as a girl. He pictured someone walking in on her dressing…seeing her skin...his eyes popped open.

"Hey, Alek, how close are you to Dylan?" Newkirk asked.

Alek answered with no hesitation. "He is my best friend. I owe him all the grandeurs of a castle, really. Dylan gave me a safe oasis on a spot on this ship, and I have come to love—"

Newkirk coughed, surprised. "L-love?"

Alek stopped walking and looked straight at the strangely fiddling Newkirk. "Yes. I have come to love…" He gestured to the air with both arms. "…Leviathan."

Newkirk let go of the breath he was holding and almost collapsed on the floor. "Leviathan, yes, who wouldn't?" He let out a relieved chuckle. Newkirk hadn't caught any behavior of hesitation that said Alek knew Dylan was a girl. _Maybe he doesn't know_, Newkirk thought.


	3. Newkirk

**Long time no see! I'm okay and I have no excuses for not updating for so long. I'll try to be more diligent.**

**I think I should clear this up. In my story, Fitzroy did not get kicked off. He is the perfect character to create drama and tension.**

* * *

After Alek and Newkirk had left, Deryn stood frozen in the bathroom afraid to confront Newkirk. Surely he would tell Alek, and he would never look at her the same again. Strangely, that thought broke Deryn's heart more than the prospect of being punished by the captain. If she lost Alek, then she knew her heart would not be able to function properly.

_Ooh, I'm acting like a ninny again,_ Deryn thought. _Newkirk, please don't tell Alek_.

She could feel the period cloth growing heavy, and Deryn grew even more depressed. What a day. The boys thought she was having diarrhea. She was on her period. Newkirk looked as if he knew her secret.

The main door to the bathroom opened and Fitzroy entered, smirking when he saw Deryn standing there, fidgeting.

"Did you clog the toilets, by any chance? I could smell your mess all the way from the upper floors," Fitzroy commented as he walked up to one of the urinals.

Deryn looked away as Fitzroy did his business, face red with anger. "I don't have time for this. I need to get to the boiler room."

Deryn passed by the blond, jerk of a boy, giving him a slight push with his shoulder. To her surprise, Fitzroy's face fell forward, hitting the top of the urinal, which was covered with blubbery goo of Leviathan's gastric chamber.

"What the—you'll pay for this," Fitzroy's blue eyes were dark and menacing. His face was covered with the yellow goo from his cheeks down to his chin.

Deryn could not take him seriously. She stifled a laugh, because Fitzroy's zipper was still open, and the goo was probably dried urine mixed with the beastie's sebum. "See you in the morning," she called back as she walked out.

When Deryn got to her room, she shared with Alek, she laughed whole-heartedly. It was a crazed laugh, sad from the knowledge of the secret being discovered and knowing that Alek and she could never be. She had to admit, she had thought she would never laugh in a long while, but Fitzroy, of all people, had managed to make her laugh.

Deryn looked both ways of her hallway to make sure no one would disturb her when she was replacing her period cloth. Satisfied, she closed the door and locked it.

* * *

After their supper of meat loaf and steamed veggies, Alek stretched, standing up from the dining chair and headed for the door.

"I better get washed up and head over to the boiler room," he said. "Dylan should be there by now."

Newkirk almost choked on his meat. A heated room deep down below the ship, just the two of them, probably shedding clothes from the heat with warm orange light from the radiators washing over them…

"Uh, can I come with you?" Newkirk could not believe the words that were falling out of his mouth. He noticed that when it came to Dylan, he did some funny things.

"Nah, save yourself from the long hours and the heat. Even without a shirt, the heat is immense," Alek patted a gaping Newkirk on the back. "I'll take some sandwiches down for Dylan to eat, seeing he never came from his business in the bathroom." Alek laughed and disappeared through the doorway.

* * *

**Oooh, a potential love rival? I personally love Fitzroy; he has a deep history (which I made up, of course) and a sharpness that makes him my favorite character. Haha why do I always go for the bad boy? ;) Any requests on what you want to happen? Possible pairings, perhaps?**


	4. Deryn's Breakdown

**So, this is the CORRECT chapter 4. Just as a reminder, this is fiction, so the symptoms of a menstrual cycle are a wee bit exaggerated.**

**P.S. The vultures in this chapter are completely made up by me. They are the partner version to the strafing hawks.**

* * *

The sniffers' howls rang throughout the ship, like a railing alarm. Of course there would be an attack on the heaviest day of Deryn's period.

"Blisters! An attack at this time of night?" Deryn quickly grabbed a jacket and ran out to the hallways and joined the mass of bodies moving to their stations, where distorted looking crew members woken from sleep fixed their shirts and jackets. No time for the boiler room tonight.

On top of the dorsal side, the wind howled violently with the distant sound of thunder. It was chilly even for autumn.

"Mr. Sharp! Where are Mr. Fitzroy and Newkirk?" Mr. Bixby stood on the ratlines without a safety catch even in this careening wind, on the way to the strafing hawks and bats. Deryn would have chuckled at Mr. Bixby's thin hair scattering like it would fall off, but she held it in. It was time for battle.

"Sir!" Deryn saluted and moved to mirror her officer. "They should be coming in a squick! What is the situation?"

"There is an aerial attack; a German Drag Flier, ten miles due east!" Mr. Bixby yelled to be heard across the noise of the wind. "Release the melee vultures! When I give you the signal, point them to the Flier's wings!"

Deryn nodded in understanding and moved towards the vulturesques. Bixby would release the flechette bats to attack the Drag Flier's posterior engines to misguide the enemy while Deryn would command the vultures to attack the wings and bring the Flier down. The strafing hawks would act as decoy while the vultures did the work.

Up ahead, Deryn could see the outline of the Drag Flier against the full moon. It was one of the biggest aerial Clanker machines she had seen yet. The main body was covered in a protective black armor, no doubt also to camouflage it in the depths of night. Around the sides of the vast machine were six powerful wings, which would give the Flier enough speed to match the Leviathan's, which was already one of the fastest beasties in the air due to the help of the Clanker engines.

The Flier was modeled like a dragonfly. A machine built for speed and destruction. Deryn climbed the ratlines as fast as she could, not bothering to clip the safety harness. The Italian hills below seemed to sway with the wind, beckoning anyone to come and fall into the massive trees.

This did not scare her. Deryn landed feet first into the area of cages, where she saw the hawks and vultures screeching with restless anticipation. The smell of feathers and clart drifted into her nose. They sensed the danger, too. Ready and armed, the vultures flew towards the door of the cage, expecting exodus.

_Where are Newkirk and Fitzroy? And who cleans up these cages?_ Deryn thought. But she was glad for the privacy. Her period cloth was growing heavy, bound to leak. If it did, she would act strangely trying to hide her bum. And that would be a nuisance.

"Wait a bit more, beasties," Deryn said, looking towards the light made of cuttlefish skin attached to the floor. The light would turn green when Mr. Bixby had set free the bats; then Deryn would open the cage and point the laser in the direction of the Drag Flier's wings.

Where was the laser? She looked around and felt a wave of dread. It was not hanging on the cage door. She cursed under her breath, this could not happen right now. Just then, a panting Fitzroy appeared from the whale's side.

He looked as if he had sprinted through the airship. He said something, but Deryn could not hear him through the howling wind.

"What?" Deryn yelled as she looked around the floor for the laser. Fitzroy grabbed her shoulder and sharply spun her around. He pointed with a finger towards a spot on the ground in the cage of vultures.

In the middle of vulture clart was a gold cylinder: the laser beam. Deryn looked at Fitzroy and motioned for him to get it. He mouthed _No_ and smirked. She was not going to take this nonsense. He probably chucked it in there in the first place. This was not the time. Mr. Bixby would signal the green any moment, and because she was put in charge of releasing the vultures and hawks, she would be the one to get in trouble if the vultures failed to attack.

Was this was the way Fitzroy would get revenge on her for the bathroom incident? If so, she would not tolerate it. With one hand, she opened the cage and with the other shoved the tall boy inside, the strong wind seeming to help her push him in. There would be consequences for inappropriate behavior, but she did not care. Surprised, Fitzroy lost his balance and smacked his face in the clart.

Slowly freeing himself from the goo with a nasty _squish,_ turned towards Deryn. His face looked incredulous and murderous at the same time. Nonetheless, like a proper middy in the middle of battle, he handed Deryn the clart-covered laser beam just as the cuttlefish skin turned green.

"Go! Vultures!" Deryn cried as she pointed the laser beam to the Flier's left wing. In response, the vultures took off with a flutter of wings towards their opponent. Deryn wondered if they were scared. The Drag Flier was enormous, probably equipped with cannons and rifled men ready to shoot them down. The hawks zoomed past after them, and the cages were suddenly empty of life except for the roaring wind.

When she turned, Fitzroy stood right behind her, blond hair and face caked with poo, expression furious. He pulled his fist back and punched Deryn in the jaw. She recoiled just in time to half its impact and stood her ground, face to face with the blond boy.

"You should've stayed in the London zoo, Sharp," Fitzroy towered over Deryn. His navy eyes were inches away from her. "That's where you belong. Isn't it them who raised you? Savage animals?"

Deryn swallowed her instinct to tackle Fitzroy. If her period cloth was not soaked, she would have tackled him to the ground and beaten the clart-covered face of his. No one talked about her father like this.

Fitzroy took one step back, hands motioning to come at him, a taunting smile on his face. "What's the matter? Come at me. Let's settle this man to man."

Deryn's eyes glared venomously. "Stop hiding behind superiors, Fitzroy. If we brawl, I will win and I will be the one to get in trouble by Bixby. You know what you are? A coward."

Deryn knew perfectly that she was taunting him back. But she did not care. This boy had insulted her family's honor. He deserved far worse.

Fitzroy chuckled. "Do you know how wimpy you look? You probably couldn't take on a wee toddler. I wonder if you take after your father."

"Bastard!" Deryn motioned to jump on him, planning out her plan of attack in her head. But a hair of strong hands grabbed her arms from behind and pulled her back. It was Newkirk.

"Dylan, oi, Dylan, calm down. He's not worth it," Newkirk wrapped his arms around Deryn's torso and held her against him.

"But he insulted my father! My dead father!" Deryn struggled to get out of Newkirk's grasp; tears were precariously on the verge of pouring out. Every night, she would have nightmares of the fire that killed her father that left her wondering, was it her fault he was dead?

At Deryn's words, Fitzroy's expression slackened, the taunting body language dissolving. "Dead?"

Tears began falling freely on Deryn's cheeks. "Yes, yes, you daft bastard. Dead." She would have fallen down if Newkirk hadn't held her upright. She now cried, trying to keep in her wails and attempt to even cry like a boy. Always trying to act like a boy.

The day's events hit her all at once: Newkirk potentially finding out her secret, the beginning of her period with stress in the bathroom, and the panic rush of the sudden attack, all mixed into the emotional rollercoaster of her menstrual cycle.

Fitzroy struggled to find the right words. "I-I didn't know. I also—"

Newkirk gently sat Deryn on the floor and whispered, "Let me take care of this."

He went up to Fitzroy and punched him on the face.

Fitzroy let out a grunt and fell back on his bum, not fighting back. Instead, he looked at the sobbing Deryn. "Dylan, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have said that if I knew…"

A bruise was already forming on Fitzroy's left cheek where Newkirk had punched him. He stood up and walked over to Deryn, looking as if he was going to say something, but thought otherwise and climbed the ratlines.

"I'm going to help Mr. Bixby," he said.

Newkirk placed his body between him and Deryn, blocking Fitzroy's view of her. Seeing her cry like this might give her secret away. Newkirk decided then and there that he would protect her secret.

The sky opened up and finally began pouring.


End file.
